Scott Canterbury didn't get a single bite on his first day as an FLW Tour pro. That might've been the best thing that could've happened to him.
The 32-year-old resident of Odenville, Ala. stubbornly kept a flipping stick in his hand all day and zeroed on day 1 of the season opener at Florida's Lake Toho last February. But he learned a valuable lesson from those miserable 8 hours and eventually went on to win the Tour Rookie of the Year (ROY) award.
"I learned that I needed to just go out and catch what the lake offered me for my strengths as a fisherman," he said. "I'm a flipper, but it's mostly been river-type stuff – docks and wood. I enjoy flipping that matted vegetation, but I've struggled at it. It's all about going 5 hours without a bite and then catching 20 pounds in 10 minutes, and it just never happened that day.
"I'd had a fairly decent practice and I could catch 9 to 10 pounds pretty easy on a trick worm, a fluke and a little bitty crankbait, but I didn't fish for them. I went and tried to catch big ones."
His 158th-place finish was easily his worst of the season, but things got better quickly.
A Sight to Behold
Canterbury recovered from that inauspicious start to his pro career in a big way. He notched a runner-up finish in the next event at Lewis Smith, and followed that up with a 3rd at Norman.
Both were primarily sight-fishing tournaments, and that's a technique he relishes.
"If I could do it 12 months out of the year, that's all I'd do," he said. "I enjoyed it even before I knew how to catch them. I'd stay on one fish for 2 hours and just try to watch and learn – see what mood it was in and how it reacted to different lures.
"Learning about the fish's behavior is what I enjoy most about sight-fishing."
The second half of the regular was contested in mostly in deeper waters. He didn't do anything spectacular during that stretch, but his two finishes in the 60s and a 93rd at the Detroit River allowed him to end up 30th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race – well inside the cutoff for Forrest Wood Cup qualification.
He'll be better prepared when he has to go offshore in the future.
"I learned some stuff about deep water this year, but I still need to learn more. It's really about spending time on the water in the lakes you're going to be fishing. It's about reading the graph and learning how to line up on the structure.
"Fort Loudoun-Tellico (where he finished 69th) was the first deep tournament, and I think I caught every fish at about 25 feet. That was deeper than I'd ever caught a bass and I've been fishing tournaments for 16 or 17 years."
Canterbury won the FLW Tour Rookie of the Year award and ended up 30th in the points.
Greater Familiarity Ahead
On this year's Tour, Lewis Smith was the only venue that Canterbury had competed on previously. In 2009, he'll be at least somewhat familiar with four out of the six.
"I'm really looking forward to next year," he said. "Guntersville is only an hour from my house, we're going back to Norman and back to Beaver, and I've been to Kentucky Lake. Champlain and Table Rock are the only two I haven't been to."
If he continues to progress, he might be able to pick up enough sponsorship money to leave his job as a plumber (he works for a company owned by stalwart Tour co-angler Barry Isbell, who finished 2nd in the non-boater points this year). He's been working on that this offseason, but it's been difficult to find sufficient time.
"That's probably the hardest part of this whole thing. We start work at 6 (in the morning) and we're working 45 to 55 hours a week. It's hard to get on the phone and get in touch with people.
"But (fishing professionally) is all I've ever wanted to do all my life. It's taken a long time and it's been a long road, but I'm finally getting there."
Notable
> Canterbury's wife Dixie was diagnosed with cervical cancer during the season, but underwent surgery and has been given a clean bill of health. "We had a lot of help and there were a lot of prayers out there for us," he said.
> Winning an AOY is a bigger goal for him that winning a tournament. "To me, being the most consistent throughout the whole year is the biggest thing. I don't know if I'll be ready to do it next year, but I'd like to do it at some point."
